Investors are gearing up for another week in which it will become clear whether inflation will slow down or remain high. The extent to which prices rise is important to them, because they say something about the costs for companies and consumers and the expected rise in interest rates. A number of listed companies also provide insight into last year’s results, including the supplier for the chip sector ASMI.
The AEX index of the Amsterdam stock exchange suffered a loss of about 2.5 percent last week due to concerns about inflation. In New York, disappointing news about the price rises gave investors a lot of fright. The broad S&P 500 fell 2.6 percent on Wall Street in one week.
This was partly because the Federal Reserve’s preferred measure of inflation turned out higher than expected. As a result, the umbrella of central banks in the United States will be inclined to raise interest rates for longer, which is unfavorable for the valuation of equities.
Eurozone figures
On that front, investors in Europe will likely be focused on new inflation data for the eurozone on Thursday. Economists generally expect a further decline. But the question is also how core inflation, which does not take into account the volatile prices of energy and food, will develop. That figure plays an important role in interest rate decisions by the European Central Bank.
Figures on the state of the economy are also being released from several countries. In China, the United States and Japan, so-called purchasing managers’ indices show whether industrial companies and service providers are getting busier or not. France announces how fast the economy grew or contracted in the fourth quarter.
ASMI
Eyes are also on Tuesday on ASMI, which supplies systems for processing the thin slices from which semiconductors are made, among other things. Last fall, the chip company was less gloomy about the impact of US export restrictions on sales to China. Furthermore, the question is to what extent ASMI is affected by the weaker market for smartphones and PCs, which industry guts already pointed to in their quarterly figures.
Fair week | Here’s what you MUST remember about earnings season
Amsterdam-listed games maker Azerion, manufacturer of electromagnetic components Kendrion and specialty chemicals company Corbion also present their quarterly figures. Updates from abroad include German chemical group Bayer and video conferencing company Zoom Video Communications.
